E-enrolment for Form Ones at boarding schools opens this Friday

Nqobile Tshili

THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education will on Friday 1 November open the electronic enrolment for Form One pupils who intend to learn in boarding schools with the exercise expected to run until the end year.

The Ministry introduced the Electronic Ministry Application Platform (EMAP) in 2016 to manage the recruitment of Form One classes and curb irregularities associated with recruitments.

There are limited boarding school places in the country as boarding schools can accommodate 25 000 pupils while over 400 000 sat for Grade Seven examinations this year.

In a circular, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education told parents and guardians who want to send their children to boarding schools that the platform will go live from Friday November 1.

“The electronic platform for enrolling Form One boarding places for 2025. Parents/guardians who wish to send their children to boarding schools are advised to start applying through the platform (www.emap.co.zw) with effect from 1st November up to 31 December 2024,” read the circular.

Accordingly each applicant will be allowed to apply to five schools at any given time and those who will be offered a place at one school will not be eligible to apply or be considered for a place at any other school unless the offer is declined.

“Successful applicants will be notified through short message service (sms) by the respective school heads. Parents/guardians are, however, advised that there are limited boarding places and should therefore have alternative arrangements to avoid challenges if a boarding place is not secured. Once you apply to a school your application can show any one of the following status: Pending – application still under consideration, accepted – you have been offered a place.”

The Ministry said once a particular school has accepted a child’s application other outstanding schools’ statuses will automatically be changed to processed.

It said unsuccessful pupils will receive a rejected response if their application does not meet the expectation of the schools.

-@nqotshili